Tuesday, 4 September 2012

Talk To The Blogger #5: BeauteBelle

This week, I've managed to get talking to another amazing blogger! This one makes some WOW cushions and sells them online, and is a beaute alright!

Hi Stacey, thanks for the interest in being part of Talk
To The Blogger!

So tell me a little bit about you and your blog!

Constantly referring to blogs and
youtube for beauty tips and tricks my sister often questioned me about creating
one to call my own but I just kept putting it off. Fast forward to January this
year and I decided to bite the bullet and here we are today, 8 months later and
I've loved every second of it. BeauteBelle is french for beauty beauty
(Apparently anyways, I got a D in French) and is predominantly a beauty blog with
splashes of lifestyle, interior, art and design with a frequent appearance from
my adorable puppy Darwin. Here's a little bit about me.…..My names Stacey Gray
MacDonald and I'm 19 years old, i'm just about to embark on the journey that is
University to study Illustration, eeeek!

WOW! Good luck with uni! You seem the arty
type and I see from your blog profile you are an art student! And you
make some AMAZING cushions! How did the cushion selling begin?

In all honesty It just kinda happened, I
got an adorable mini sewing machine for my birthday which I just haven't used
at all until the start of summer in which I spent a lot of time messing about
with different fabrics. After seeing a post on Pinterest about DIY screen
printing I wanted to give it a go on a spare piece of canvas material so I
screen printed an S but it didn't look like I expected it too (I still have the
first one sat next to my bed) I decided to hand paint a K for my sister and it
looked SO much better, it wasn't until a friend asked me where I bought it from
that something triggered…maybe i could sell these?! I got amazing feedback from
my followers selling out my entire first batch in around 14 hours on Ebay, I
actually hit the 100 cushion mark just last week - only 3 weeks after beginning
this venture!

I think I'll be venturing into buying
one.... Being a crafty girl at heart, apart from your scrabble cushions, what
else do you get yourself up to artistically?

I love to draw, I have an awful attention
span but if you hand me a pencil and some paper I'll sit quietly for hours on
end. More recently I've done two commissions, both black and white paintings of
band art for people at work but what I'm super excited about is my current
project, I'm designing some wedding stationary for my Manager's brother in
which I'm taking part in some of the wedding planning too such as creating
handmade bunting, signs etc. I've loved doing all the research, it's definitely
something I'd like to touch up on in the future, maybe if any wedding planners
out there want to employ somebody to make things from scratch for weddings give
me a shout?

You seem to be a massive fan of lip
products judging by your many different lip product reviews! Am I Right??

Oh definitely, Lipsticks in particular can
transform an entire look instantly, whether its a nude, subtle lip or a bold
and bright red. I'm not particularly great at applying eye shadows or eye make
up in general so I like to draw the attention away from them and lip products
are the best thing to do so. Not only lipsticks with blasts of colour but just
lip products such as balms are also amazing because lets face it who wants dry,
horrible lips? Not me.

What is your favourite beauty products
right now and what would you be reccommending your readers?

They change on a daily basis but at the
moment I've fallen in love with Laura Mercier's Silk Creme Foundation, it is my
go to foundation with amazing coverage and a flawless finish. Model's Own
varnishes seem to be my brand to beat on consistency, colour range and lasting
power - arts and crafts often result in chipped polish but models own are
sturdy and endure almost anything. If you live in England you are probably
aware of the muggy weather meaning you get stupidly warm without any sunshine -
all this being said Dry shampoo has been pretty much everyone's saviour this
summer, it is the holy grail of hair products. Thank you Batiste!!

I always wonder what inspires a blogger's
posts! What inspires you most?

I wouldn't say I'm necessarily inspired to
write a certain post on the beauty side of things but when I've got a strong
collection of photographs that I feel happy with the writing seems to just
follow with ease afterwards. I'm currently in the process of creating a
separate blog purely for arts, crafts, DIY and interior posts that
will launch later this year and I've found Pinterest is a main form of
inspiration as well as accidental inspiration especially within art - an
accident isn't always a bad thing with art but more of a window for
experimentation that as long as you photograph the steps you can share it with
others. As a rule for me though in most things In life I draw inspiration from
things surrounding me on a daily basis - colour, accents, dress sense, texture,
movement etc.

Us bloggers always get excited over a post
we all love writing most. What is your favourite things to post about on your blog?

As you can probably see beauty wise I love
lip products, they're always nice to photograph but I absolutely LOVE lifestyle
posts, I feel I can be myself and the writing just flows, almost as if I'm
literally talking to my readers. Darwin seems to be my key focus of interest as
far as my lifestyle posts are concerned, I could literally write a hundred
books about how clever dogs actually are and the funny things Darwin does on a
daily basis - He has completely changed my life this past year so out of
everything that my blog features my favourite thing out of the lot
are my Puppy Posts so be expecting a lot more of them in the future.

Keep the puppy posts coming! They're
adorable and a winner for followers! I always like to ask, how fellow bloggers
connect with other bloggers. What is your favourite way to connect, whether it
be through commenting, following or social networking?

I hate to admit it but Social Networking
is the most amazing tool within blogging, you can get in touch directly
with followers, brands, friends…everybody!! By Social Networking I mean Twitter
as it is quick, easy and idiot proof.

XO

Thanks for taking part Stacey! You've got a new favourite
blog reader here!

If you want to follow Stacey's lovely blog, just visit
her here!Beaute Belle